Transfer-ticket.



Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

H T. STBINECKE.

TRANSFER TICKET.

APPLICATION FILED APR.24,1909.

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TRANSFER-TICKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Application filed April 24, 1909. Serial No. 492,043.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN T. STEI- NEOKE, a citizen of the United States, and residing at the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Transfer-Tickets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in a new and improved transfer ticket for use by a street railway company where a passenger is to be transferred from one line of cars to another line of cars and for similar purposes.

The manner in which such tickets now in general use are arranged renders their fraudulent use easy and consequently great loss is inflicted on the railway companies through the free carriage of passengers who should pay the regular fare. The necessary data is printed in such a manner that when the time limit, routes &c., are punched out, the second conductor in taking up fares is unable to readily detect a void transfer or one not good on his car, so that ample opportunity for fraud is presented and fully taken advantage of by the public. In practice it is practically impossible to prevent the use of transfers after the hours indicated and it has therefore become the custom on leading traction lines to issue one color of tickets during the morning and those of another color during the afternoon as a rough check on their use. However the ticket can readily be used on the following morning or afternoon. It is sometimes the custom of printing the number of the day of the month on the ticket but these tickets are simply kept until the corresponding day of the following month and used without detection.

My improved transfer ticket is intended to rectify these insufliciencies and prevent fraudulent use.

The day on which the transfer is issued and on which only it can be used is indicated in large numerals by a number which said day is given from an arbitrarily chosen date over a long period, such, for instance, during twenty-five years, so that the use of the ticket on the corresponding date in a subsequent month is impossible.

The time limit up to which the ticket is good for a continued passage is indicated on perforated portions running across the ticket adjacent to one end thereof, the last hour of the day up to which a ticket can be issued and used being indicated on the end portion, the next portion indicating the period preceding the last period, and so on until the last perforated portion which indicates the earliest hour of the day at which tickets issued the same day can be used. When the conductor issues a ticket he tears off from the same all the said perforated portions up to the portion indicating the hour when the said ticket ceases to be good, so that the time limit during which the ticket is good is indicated always by the top or end of the ticket when the same is received by the passenger.

The line from which the ticket is issued is indicated in large type, either by printing or stamping the name of the line at about the center of the ticket or by indicating the same by a letter or numeral. Adjacent to the name of the particular line of cars is a column of numerals indicating the transfer station or intersection at which the passenger is to change cars, and at either side of such station column are provided in and out columns which are used to indicate the direction of travel of both the car on which the transfer was issued and the car on which the transferred passenger is entitied to a passage.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the front or face of my ticket and Fig. 2 is a similar view of the reverse or back of the ticket.

The following is a detailed description of the drawings:

Across the center of the ticket, preferably on both sides thereof, is printed in large numerals the number of the day of issue computed according to an arbitrary system or series beginning at a selected date and running over a long period, such, for instance, as twenty-five years. Thus for the sake of illustration, I have adopted 44:44 as the number of the day of the ticket illustrated in the drawings, being the four thousand, four hundred and forty-fourth day in the series. By glancing quickly at this numher the conductor on taking up fares and receiving the ticket can at once determine whether or not the ticket was issued the same day as this is the only day in the series running over a number of years which will bear this number. This will, of course, prevent the passenger using the ticket on any subsequent date under any circumstances.

Adjacent to the number of the day, the name of the line of cars is printed or stamped on the ticket in large letters. The conductor will of course be informed tickets from what lines are good on his car, so that if a ticket marked Garrick, as in the drawings, is handed him at a transfer station by an entering passenger and transfers from the Garrick cars are not good on his line of cars, he will at once refuse the transfer and collect a cash fare.

I prefer, in printing up a supply of my tickets, to leave the line for the name of the car-line, on which the transfers are to be issued, blank so that the supply for the whole system can be printed up at once. The names of each car-line may afterward be stamped in the supply for each line before they are issued morning by morning to the proper conductors.

Beneath the name of the line, I provide a column, preferably vertical, in which the various transfer stations on the line are indicated, preferably by numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the drawings. On either side of the column of transfer stations, I provide two vertical columns, a, a, and Z), 6, the two columns to the left of the transfer station column, a and a, being for inbound cars and the remaining columns, I) and b, being for out-bound cars. The outside columns, a and Z; are for the car from which a ticket is issued and the inner columns, a and b, are for the car to which the ticket is issued.

WVhen a ticket is iven to a passenger riding on an iii-bound Garrick car to enable the passenger to change at transfer station No. 3, to an out-bound car of another line, the Garrick conductor punches in the column a to indicate that the first car is in-bound, and also punches in column b opposite the numeral 3 in the transfer station column to indicate that the passenger is to change to an out-bound car at said station No. 3. Where the ticket is issued to a passenger on an out-bound Garrick car to an in-bound car on another line at station No. 5, the column b is punched to show that the Garrick car is out-bound, and the column a is punched opposite numeral 5 in the station column to show that the car transferred to is an in-bound car at said station. WVhere the ticket is issued from an iii-bound Garrick car to an in-bound car on another line at station No. 7, the columns a and a are punched, the column a being punched opposite the numeral 7.

It is evident that the cars are distinctly indicated on the ticket so that no misuse of the ticket is possible. The conductors instructions would of course prevent him from accepting transfers from another car on his 1 i t own lme or from such other lines as the rules dictated.

By printing the reverse of the ticket in the manner shown in Fig. 2, with the columns a, a, b and b in the order indicated, the ticket as punched may be read on either face, thus facilitating its collection.

The upper portion or top of the ticket is composed of a series of horizontal divisions, indicated in the drawings as o,cl,c, f, g, /L,?: and j preferably separated by perforations so as to be readily detached. The extreme top or end of the ticket is formed by a perforated portion which must be detached before the ticket will be accepted as a fare. On the top portion 0 is printed at the left hand side' the last hour of the day when a ticket is good for use, such as 11 oclock p. 111. On the next portion (Z is indicated the hour previous which forms the limit of use of a transfer, and so on in reverse order, the periods covering day are indicated on the portions 6, f, g, h, i and 7', until the limit of the first period is reached, as for instance 9 a. m. I have shown the intervening period as of the length to two hours but these periods may be made of any desired length, such as fifteen minutes, if desired, perforated portions sufficient in number being provided. During the period in which transfers are issued which are to be used before a given hour to be valid, say on orbefore 9 a. m., the conductor in issuing the ticket, tears the top off the same along the perforated line between the portions 71 and j, so that at the top of the ticket the time limit, 9 a. m., is indicated in large type and the conductor receiving the transfer can see at a glance whether the time limit of the transfer has expired or not. Vhile tickets are being issued which are good for use on orbefore, say, 11 oclock a. m., the conductor tears the top off the tickets along the perforated line between portions h and 2', leaving the time 11 oclock a. m. indicated in large type at the top of the ticket. It is evident that any attempt to use the ticket after the time limit thereof, as stated in large type at the top of the ticket as received by the passenger, would be immediately detected by the conductor taking up the fares and frustrated.

I prefer to print both faces of the upper part of the ticket alike so that the time limit may be determined by the conductor taking up the transfers without turning over the ticket in his hand.

If desired the number of the day as 4444 may be printed on all the perforated portions so that these may be retained by the conductor as a check on the number and time of tickets issued to be turned in to the company office.

If desired information such as conditions of use, the years &c. may be printed on the ticket, on either one of the two faces, or on both faces, as desired.

It is evident from the above that my transfer is both simple and inexpensive to print and may readily be marked by the conductor issuing the same so that its validity may be immediately determined by the receiving conductor without the possibility of an error, as the day on which the transfer is issued is marked by a number which is given to no other day, and the time limit during which the ticket is good is marked in large type. on the extreme top of the ticket when received by the passenger. The carline from which the transfer is issued is marked in large letters near the center of the ticket so, that the receiving conductor can see at a glance whether or not the ticket was given to the passenger on a line from which transfers to his line are valid. The transfer station at which the transfer ticket is to be used is marked in a plain manner at the footof the ticket and the directions of the cars is also determined with case, so that an employee can have no excuse for not determining correctly at a glance whether or not the passenger is entitled to a free ride on the car which he boards with the ticket.

as the data on both faces of the ticket is the same, the conductor can judge of its validity without turning the ticket over in his hand, thus saving time, especially in the case of pay-as-you-enter-cars It is evident that different colors of paper for morning and afternoon are not required, as the top line of the ticket plainly indicates its limit of validity.

What I desire to claim is- A transfer-ticket provided with a series of detachable coupons, each of said coupons bearing the same arbitrary numeral indicating the day on which the ticket is valid without regard to the calendar date, and each of said coupons bearing numerals representing divisions of the day, said numerals being progressively and successively arranged with the numeral representing the first division of the day adjacent the stub, whereby, by removing the outer coupons, the end coupon, as issued, indicates the day upon which and the time-limit within which the ticket is valid.

Signed at Pittsburg, Penna, this 23rd day of April, 1909.

HERMAN T. STEINE CKE.

Witnesses:

E. A. LAWRENCE, A. W. FORSYTH. 

